PROGRAM AZERBAIJAN, IRAN & ARMENIA

Saturday April 28

Amsterdam 13.10 - Moscow 18.40
Arrival and departure in Moscow at/from Shermentevo 2
Moskow - Baku 22.55 - 03.15 ( April 29 )


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Sunday April 29


Arrival in Baku at 03.15 Hour
Please prepare your payment for your entrance visa to Azerbaijan
60 euro for NL, Germany,Spain.
35 euro for Finland
46 dollar for Poland
50 dollar for Argentina
40 dollar for Croatia

Transfer to
Consul Hotel
Baku, AZ1110, 92c, Hasan Aliyev Str.
Tel: 0099412-4986095, 4651282


Unfortunatedly we cannot enter our rooms before 3 pm.
There will be a breakfast for us at 7 am and
it will be possible to leave our luggage, and if people really feel EXHAUSTED there will be a couple of rooms available for a little nap.


This day the group will have time for a first exploration of the city.
It is recommended to visit some museums today because tomorrow the State Art Museum and the Maiden's Tower , and maybe other museums will be closed.

There will be no further programme .


Suggestions for a hearty meal:
The restaurants Canaq Quala and next to it Shusha in Tabriz Kucasi .
Cheap and very local according to the Lonely Planet.


Tonight: Consul hotel, Baku



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Monday April 30

Breakfast at 8.30 local time

Today the group will be split up in smaller groups and we hope to have meetings with
interesting collegues in galleries , art centers and other places most kindly put up for us by Jahangir Selimkhanov, who works for the Soros foundation in Baku .
(The Open Society Institute (OSI), a private operating and grantmaking foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI works to build alliances across borders and continents).

Jahangir Selimkhanov will try to arrange for some translators since not everybody that we will meet is fluent in English. Detailed information will be given to you at breakfast- so please be there in time.


No evening programme.
Tonight: Consul hotel, Baku



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Tuesday May 1

Breakfast at 7.30 am

Today we have a bus available to make a tour with the whole group around the Abseron Peninsula. We will pay attention to both the Zoroastrian firetemples as well as to the post-industrial landscape and the social history connected to it.


Rietveld - dinner for the whole group in Baku in restaurant Beh Beh.
LOCATION TO BE CONFIRMED .


Tonight: Consul hotel, Baku



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Wednesday May 2

Breakfast at 7.30 am

Another day for sightseeing in town and for some meetings with collegues ( preferably in small groups). .
Detailed information will be given to you at breakfast- so please be there in time.


In the evening we hope to offer the group a concert of Mugam - traditional Azerbaijanian music in the interiors of the XVth c. Shirvanshahs' Palace.
TO BE CONFIRMED


Tonight: Consul hotel, Baku


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Thursday May 3

Breakfast at 5.30 am
Ladies please don't forget to put a headscarf in your handluggage


6.00 am Departure from Baku
to Astara in Iran.
We will make a stop in Qobustan, 60km south of Baku
and visits its Stone and Bronze age petroglyphs as well as
it's mud volcanoes.

For the rest of the day we will be in the bus .

Around 07.00 pm passport and custom check at the Astara Border
The border will close at 5 pm so the group should pass
the border by walking.


For the night we will stay in the Astara Inn
Iran, Astara Hakim Nezami Ave, in front of the Health offoce.
Tel: 0098-0185521-6063 to 4


According to Lonely Planet there are `kababis' around Shahrdari square
and if you wish , stylish dining at the Espinas Hotel's restaurant.


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Friday May 4

Breakfast at 6.30 am
Departure by bus at 7 am to Tabriz via Ardabil
where we will have two hours time to visit
the magnificent Sheik- Safi-oldin Ardabili Mausoleum .
In Tabriz we will be able to visit the Bazaar and
the fabulous Blue Mosque


For the night we will stay in
Tabriz international Hotel
Iran, Tabriz, Imam Khomeini Ave., Abresan crossroad,
Tel: 0098-411-3341081 to 9
http://www.hoteltabriz.com/


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Saturday May 5

Extremely Early Breakfast at 5 am
Departure at 5.30 am from Tabriz to Yerevan.
13 hours nonstop bus riding + 2 hours border checking.

We hope to find time to visit the Tatev monastery in Armenia's southern region
(to be confirmed).

But first we have to pass the Noordoz border.
Please have your visa payment of 20 dollar available
It has to be paid in Arminian " dram"
20 dollar is about 10.000 dram .

We hope to arrive in

Yerevan around 9 pm .
In Yerevan we will be accomodated in the
Areg Hotel
Armenia, Yerevan, 80, Burnazjan Ave.
Tel: 003741- 456-213
http://www.areg.am/


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Sunday May 6

Breakfast at 8 am

Excursion by bus to Holy Echmiadzin ( not far from Yerevan).
For Armenian Christians , Echmiadzin has unparalleled importance.

We will try to include time for the Vernissage market (only in the week-end).


Tonight:
Areg Hotel in Yerevan
Some trendy cafes in Yerevan :
Artbridge Bookstore Cafe, Eastern Cuisine ( that's seems to be the name),
Sayat Nova ( nightclub as well).


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Monday May 7

Breakfast at 8 am
Information on the programme will be delivered here, so be in time.

- The artist Karen Andreassian ( video & photography) wrote :
“ I would be happy to meet you and maybe some of your colleagues who might be interested in my work on 7 May, at 11.00 at the Club, a cafe on 40 Toumanyan str. You can call me on my mobile (37493) “ .

Yardan Azatyan will welcome the whole group at the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts and talk about the artistic situation in Armenia .
Yardan Azatyan is Art Historian, vice-president of the NAAC, director of the Art History Department of Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (ACCEA), and he teaches History of Contemporary Art in Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts. He graduated from Yerevan State Institute of Fine Arts. His Ph.D. thesis is The Historiography of World Art during the Cold War. Fluent in English, he is a translator of philosophy.

Time and adress to be announced at breakfast.

Rietveld as well as Rijksacdemie -alumnus, artist Nora Martirosan
(nowadays living in Montpellier)
wrote:
“You should definitely visit
-the central marker - Republic's prospect (former Lenin's)
-the memorial to the victims of the genocide of 1915, outside of the center, but you can take public transport or walk, it's called Tsitsirnakaberd. There is a museum on the spot and you can try to have a guide there.
- Sergej Paradjanov's museum
-manuscript museum
-national gallery
-historical gallery (in the same building)
- and just stall the streets.”



Tonight:

Areg Hotel in Yerevan


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Tuesday May 8

Breakfast at 8 am
Detailed information will be given to you at breakfast- so please be there in time.

Today we will be welcomed at Accea by Eva Kachatrian,
Co-Director of Department of Fine Arts of Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art. The exhibitions at Accea of the last years address feminist issues and the problems of women's art. Educated as a music critic, she graduated from Yerevan State Conservatory.
Eva Kachatrian will put up some meetings with a couple of artists for us as well.
a schedule for this will be presented to you.


Last meeting and Rietveld- dinner at Marco Polo, 1/3 Abovyan Poghots
Nora Martirosan suggested this place to us.
Time to be announced at breakfast.


Tonight:

Areg Hotel in Yerevan




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Wednesday May 9

Early breakfast - time to be announced
Transfer to Yerevan airport for
Depart by SU192
Don't forget to bring your DEPARTURE-TAX of 20 dollars in Armenian dram.
Yerevan - Moscow 07.10 - 09.05
Moskow - Amsterdam 10.40 - 12.10